Members of the Harford County Sheriff's Honor Guard participate in the 28th annual observance of Fallen Heroes Day, held at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. Three officers from the Harford county sheriff's office were honored.

Members of the Harford County Sheriff's Honor Guard participate in the 28th annual observance of Fallen Heroes Day, held at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. Three officers from the Harford county sheriff's office were honored. (Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Family members of fallen officers gather as the wreath is laid at the 28th annual observance of Fallen Heroes Day, held at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. Beverly Foard, sister of Harford county sheriff officer Teresa Testerman, puts her arm around Hailey Testerman, the officer's granddaughter...

Family members of fallen officers gather as the wreath is laid at the 28th annual observance of Fallen Heroes Day, held at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. Beverly Foard, sister of Harford county sheriff officer Teresa Testerman, puts her arm around Hailey Testerman, the officer's granddaughter... (Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

The 28th annual Fallen Heroes Day in Maryland was May 3. It's a day set aside to honor those in the public safety community — police, firefighters, corrections officers and emergency responders — who have died in the line of duty. All were designated last year as line-of-duty deaths, although two of the deaths happened in 2010 and 2011.

In a ceremony at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, hundreds gathered to commemorate the supreme sacrifice made by seven Marylanders, including five police officers, one correctional officer and one firefighter. Six were men and one was a woman.

These losses now begin to recede into history — the most recent was last September.

Sadly, this kind of history cannot be permanently relegated to the past. Peril is a constant and as long as there are men and women who rush in the direction of that peril, the risk of death will continue.

We were reminded of this as recently as May 2, when a firefighter with the Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company died of injuries received several days earlier while fighting a fire that killed another man.

Gene Kirchner, 25, was one of the first firefighters on the scene of the house fire on Hanover Road on April 24. He went inside to try to save a trapped man. He was later found unconscious on the second floor of the house. Kirchner had joined the fire company as a junior firefighter at age 14 and his twin brother and sister also serve as volunteers with the company.

On the day after Kirchner's death, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz weighed the significance of the young man's sacrifice.

"Sometimes we take for granted the willingness of our first responders to lay down their lives for us," he said in a statement. "Today, we're reminded just how much we owe them."

The dead deserve commemoration. The mourners deserve our condolences. And the living who still rush into peril deserve our respect and, once in a while, our complete attention.

Cliff Gillespie is as enthusiastic about the prospect of beginning his fifth decade with the Towsontowne Recreation Council girls basketball program as he was in his first year with the organization in 1975.

Location, location, location is the old adage about what makes a business successful. In the case of Bonefish Grill, the new restaurant in Towson Square, the location is 127 W. Joppa Road, in the $85 million entertainment complex with a multiplex movie theater in Towson.

Amara Majeed founded a website called "The Hijab Project," aimed at combating discrimination against Muslim girls and women who wear head-scarves in public. She self-published a book of short biographies of 17 peace-loving, law-abiding Muslims from around the world. She provides online...